Engineering Culture from Zero to Scale

Adin Henrich: Welcome back to spherecast. Sphere's bi weekly conversations with um, entrepreneurs, business and tech leaders. Offering practical advice on technology, innovation and scaling. I'm your host Adin Henrich. And today we are diving into a topic every growing tech company eventually faces. How to build and scale an engineering culture that actually works. Our guest today has done just that. Leading teams from startup sites to scale up stage across the Middle east and Asia, including time spent growing teams in both Arabia and China. We'll talk about what it takes to set uh, a cultural foundation from day one. How the first hundred days shape long term success and how leadership shifts uh, teams growth from a handful of engineers to large distributed organizations. Chris, welcome to spherecast. Great to have you. Of course. Um, could you please introduce yourself a little bit to our audience?

Krista Braz: Sure. Hi Adin, um, it's great to connect. Um, my name is Krista Braz, I am a software engineer by heart and by education. However, for the last two decades I've been building and scaling high performing engineering organizations including launching two major tech hubs in Poland, uh, leading multiple uh, product teams across emea and driving large scale transformation programs in the financial um, space. My focus is on engineering strategy, organizational design, um, delivering results, uh, at scale but mostly strong engineering culture. Um, for the past three years, um, last three years I spent in the Middle east, um, working on uh, launching first digital banking experience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And um, and one more initiative, um, I'm exploring senior engineering executive roles where I can combine strategic leadership with hands on operational impact. So ideally in organizations looking to scale, modernize or accelerate product delivery.

Adin Henrich: Mhm.

Krista Braz: All right, that's me. Cool.

Adin Henrich: Great to have you here Chris. So you said two things. Let me just go with the first question there. You have built uh, engineering teams from the ground up. Um, so what do you think when you go back to the very first phase during that time, what does building culture mean? Before the team even exists.

Krista Braz: Got it. Um, to me, building culture uh, before the team exists is about deciding what you will tolerate and reward, then making this explicit in the decisions you make today. Because culture isn't posters or one page values doc, right. It's the pattern of decisions you take about hiring the first product, priorities, how you communicate and who you trust with responsibility. So when I started Teams from zero, I focused on three things upfront. First, clear mission, why this team matters, a few non negotiable working norms like psychological safety, ownership, transparent decisions and the hiring bar. So those three act like a cultural seed. The mission uh, attracts the right people the norms shape day to day behavior and the hiring bar ensures that um, each new hire tends to reinforce, not dilute the founding culture. I will give you a concrete practice I used before. Um, so before posting the first role I wrote the first 90 day charter. So what the team must accomplish in its first three months and uh, the behaviors that will get them there. This charter becomes a filter during interviews and ah, in the first onboarding conversations. And that worked pretty well for me in the past.

Adin Henrich: That's, that's, that's some great insights. Yeah, definitely. I, I can definitely relate on both sides. Being the candidate so to say for, for a role but also being a manager, hiring for that role. Right. So you want to eliminate and attract you know, the best profiles. Of course for that role makes sense. So you said 90 days. Let me go with 100 days. So what do you focus on the first hundred days, you know, when you come in know, Is it about hiring? Is it about values? It's about procedure or delivery, you know, because um, you know, it goes hand in hand and you need to find the right balance of course there. But you know, what is it the first hundred days your main focus?

Krista Braz: Yeah, that's a very good question. So I would say all the above you mentioned but sequenced. So my mental checklist for the first 100 days is listen, stabilize, deliver and scale. So first 30 days you listen and learn. You talk to the stakeholders, customers and um, any um, early hires, you map dependencies and risks. Um, I use this time to clarify success criteria with the business or with my boss. Um, m basically aligning expectations with my manager. So I put an explicit alignment with both step into onboarding so that we are on the same page. Right. Um, next Thursday. So 30 up to 60 stabilize. So hire few critical roles if that. Um, select one or two engineering virtuals that can be code reviews, Sprint demos, CI pipeline, whatever and ensure a reproducible onboarding flow. So basically it's about establishing the four or five metrics that uh, will um, that the team will watch. Right. Um, next phase I would call accelerating or um, delivery. So basically um, the last 30, 40 days is about delivering a clear visible win. Um, something that builds credibility and demonstrate how you work. Then start creating repeatable processes for hiring, onboarding and architectural decisions. It's very important to say this. You can't do everything in the first 100 days. So you need to prioritize things that create leverage. Uh, let's say one great hire, one automated deployment pipeline, one reliable release guidance, whatever it is. But basically um, you need to have this and you need to build your community. So basically, um, all in all, you need to get this positive feedback from all over the place to be successful.

Adin Henrich: All right. Yeah, definitely. I definitely like the, the alignment statement that you said with, uh, with your boss. Um, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep that one in mind, honestly, because I think it's very crucial. Right. I, um, think also that companies, when they'. They have, you know, a mission for that role, so to say. But then the person who comes may have actually seen also some other topics, you know, that can be put on the to do which have better leverage, as you said. So I think, I think, you know, aligning that pre, so to say, contract and then the real execution contract that you also see makes. Makes definitely sense. Yeah, definitely.

Krista Braz: Yeah. If I may just add one to you and to podcast, um, you know, audience. What worked really, really well for me, um, is the book called First 90 Days by Michael Watkins. Uh, I would call it a, you know, bulletproof guide that helped me at least a couple of times in my life when I was entering a new role. So if you have a chance, please do, uh, take a look at this, um, at this book, especially if you're stepping into New York new role. It can be new organization, but maybe a new role within your organization. Worth reading 100%.

Adin Henrich: Thank you for that. I'll definitely link that, uh, in our description. Uh, thanks. Thanks for that. So when we talk about culture, um, you know, in the early days, culture can be just written, um, in a job description on a slide. It's defined by daily behavior. Right. So how do you make sure that the team lives, you know, leaves the values, not just talks about them. I think this is not just for the, you know, new roles that you come in. This is for everybody managing and, you know, want to make sure that the values are lift.

Krista Braz: Sure. Um, okay. Uh, let me think for a while. I mean, um, I completely agree. Uh, culture isn't just about what's written on a slide or in the handbook, but it's something that comes to life through daily team behaviors, interactions and decisions. And to ensure, um, the culture thrives and aligns with the values stated.

Adin Henrich: Um,

Krista Braz: I especially, I mean, especially in organizations as globally diverse as I've been working, I've been working at my, My approach is couple of items. First, clear communication and alignment. Early on, it's crucial to translate the company's stated values like ownership, collaboration, innovation into practical, actionable behaviors. For example, if ownership is key, I Would work with team leads to set clear expectations around accountability um and uh, driving initiatives independently. I would also hold regular check ins to align with the broader vision. Second, and maybe this is more important, lead by example. As leaders we set the tone of behavior within the team whether it's actively embodying collaboration by building bridges across departments or celebrating um innovative ideas. I believe that these small um intentional actions seem signal that culture starts at the top and you are the ambassador of the culture. 3rd um, I would say, I would say adapt for diversity. Um so I would adopt an inclusive approach that accounts for cultural nuances. And I'm saying this based on my recent experience in the Middle east where I had team all over the um um all over the MENA region, uh but also teams in China um and uh it's super important to recognize and tailor uh the communication uh for local norms while ensuring they align with the company overarching culture. Uh, one last thing looks uh finally so creating open channels for feedback is central. Um by implementing um tools like pulse surveys or anonymous feedback boards, I would ensure team members feel empowered to share honest opinions on alignment with values.

Adin Henrich: Great, great points here. Uh, we'll definitely go a little bit deeper in your experience of course with mei in China later on. But before that um, would love to understand from you how you balanced between speed and stability. So every startup struggles between building fast uh, or building. Right. So how do you balance engineering discipline, things like clean architecture, testing and process um with the urgency to ship fast. Right. So it's a balancing act. Um and maybe if you also can give some real life examples as well.

Krista Braz: Okay, um so think in terms of risk managed speed. So the question isn't about speed versus discipline. Um it's where the biggest risks lie and what discipline buys you the most. So um, what I believe in uh is um, I mean in early days to. I prefer simple well tested building blocks for critical paths. Um which means the parts that touch many users or hold state for experimental features. I favor fast uh reversible patterns so feature flags, short lived branches. So we basically build something tested and decide if we continue or not. Certainly investing early in automation. Um unfortunately um. Too often I seen. I've joined organizations which uh lagged on this. I mean um. My entire experience in, in the MENA region was um. I mean when I joined there was not. There was very little on the test automation and uh, this would be a great leverage. Right. Um, what else? Um, yeah I mean like I say um, layered risk based approach. So you know um, with the core Systems, uh, these need to be stable, resilient and fully tested before iterations. Experimentation areas, um, where speed to market is critical. I encourage building MVPs that can be refined interactively based on feedback and on infra, uh, enhancements. Um, these work concurrently to support future growth without blocking immediate deliverables. So this is what I am calling a balance. Uh, you know, so what I tell teams is ship to learn, but ship in a way you can confidentially iterate on. Um, sorry, confidently, uh, iterate on. So basically, um, like I say, feature flags, canary releases, automated test that lets you be bold without burning the house down.

Adin Henrich: Makes sense. Makes sense. Chris, um, you mentioned before Middle East. So you have built teams in the Middle East. You know, a region where ecosystems are growing fast but operate differently. Definitely from the West. Um, so what unique leadership lessons did you take from that experience?

Krista Braz: That's a great question because I learned it in the hard way. The Middle east taught me two big lessons. Patience in relationship building and a huge opportunity for bespoke leadership. Um, many organizations are growing fast, but decision making and incentives can be shaped by local corporate culture and stakeholder dynamics. That means progress often depends as much on trusted relationship or on as on the technical plans. And this is what I'm saying I've learned, uh, it in the hard way because I've been struggling for the first couple of months because I did not know, I did not recognize that those relationships matter the most. I mean, I, um, was there as a VP of engineering, um, working closely with the C level and even the board. Sometimes, however, it means nothing if you don't have, um. If you don't have, um, let's call it FaceTime and stakeholder mapping. So a quick technical decision can be stalled by an unexpected stakeholder which you even didn't recognize. So spotting that early and getting a small informal alignment, um, saves weeks. Um, I also learned to tailor communication super important. Uh, so more context and clarity upfront and explicit written decisions that travel across language and hierarchy differences. One last item. Because the ecosystem there is still maturing, there's an opportunity to create career paths and, um, training programs like internships, mentorships that accelerate talent growth. I treated that as a part of my cultural mandate to help the region grow with while building the product.

Adin Henrich: Great, great. So could you maybe elaborate a little bit more, Chris, on the stakeholders that you didn't even had on your radar? So could you, could you give. I mean, you don't have to go too much into detail telling who the person is, but, you know, just to understand in your example, what, what was the blocker there that you didn't see coming?

Krista Braz: Let me think for a while because I would love to give you a specific example. Um, so when I joined the organization as a VP of engineering um, in Middle east, uh, one of my key goals was to fast track product delivery while scaling our team and infrastructure. However, I quickly encountered challenges in decision making process that weren't immediately um, visible. So um, for instance I overlooked the influence of a senior stakeholder responsible for government partnerships. This person wasn't part of our direct engineering discussion. He uh, was not even on the product. He was more like a compliance. But he has significant um, sway over contractual and compliance matters. Uh, their input was required to move ahead. Yet due to a lack of prior engagement or informal alignment, the project was paused. Um, and that experience taught me um, the strong need for mapping not just my immediate collaborators, but decision make decision makers, um, and the broader landscape of indirect influence influencers. The impact of that lesson was immense. So moving forward I uh, regularly conducted informal stakeholder analysis during the planning phases and implemented proactive communication uh, tailored to local dynamics. Facetime, tea time, explicit documentation and frequent alignment check ins became non negotiable in my approach.

Adin Henrich: Yeah, yeah, I heard that before definitely. So yeah, makes definitely sense. Good. Um, let's go basically with the same question Chris. Um, but then for China, right? So you have experienced also China. How is that different than emea? And of course the Western, the Western working culture.

Krista Braz: Yeah. I mean China is a master class in execution velocity and data driven decision making. Um, the environment taught me to couple speed with tight feedback loops, ship small measure and iterate aggressively. It also reinforced the value of operational rigor. Lots of rapid experiments, but each one measured with clear metrics. What is more important is the leadership. Um, also taught me about adapting to ambiguity um, and being decisive. So when timelines are aggressive you can't wait for perfect consensus. You need quick hypothesis, aligned ownership and um, cadence that forces um, resolution. Um, yeah. Culturally the experience reminded me that you must watch local working norms while still protecting the elements of culture you believe in. For example, pairing fast execution with um, explicit rituals for quality and learning.

Adin Henrich: M. Mhm. Good one. Yeah. All right, um, let's go to the next question. You know um, I think you touched base also while we were saying about your bullet points, what you have learned. But managing across, you know, multiple languages, time zones, culture expectations is a challenge for any leader. How do you maintain shared values and trust when your teams are distributed globally and especially when it's of course, then you know virtually as well.

Krista Braz: Mhm.

Adin Henrich: Of.

Krista Braz: Yeah, that's a good one. So, you know, managing multiple languages, time zones, cultures and expectations, definitely a complex challenge. But in this, uh, but it's an area I've developed a strong expertise over the years. So, um, for example, in one of my previous roles as a VP of engineering, overseeing teams spread across the Middle east, um, but also Europe and Asia, the first step was to create a unified framework for alignment that included. That included mapping communication, uh, preferences across cultures, establishing clear rituals for sharing feedback, um, and structuring workflows that accommodated different time zones. So I learned to foster trust and collaboration by ensuring asynchronous work, um, and synchronous touch points, uh, that were very, um, highly purposeful. Um, um. So, um, a key lesson I carried forward was that cultural nuances genuinely shape the dynamics. For instance, in Europe, direct feedback and autonomy are often appreciated, while in Asia and in China, decisions are sometimes influenced by hierarchies and indirect communication styles. So my balance was to. My approach was to balance this cultural sensitivity with a unified engineering culture rooted in transparency, ownership and innovation. Me personally, I believe in trust, autonomy and ownership. And believe me, uh, China, like I said before, is, um, a powerhouse in execution. However, this hierarchical, uh, let's say, relationship exists, which also I learned in the hard way. And also, and also, um, if I may, I would love to recommend another book that was very, very helpful. Um, because, um, I can say that for my first, let's say, adventure in the Middle East, I was not prepared. But for the second one, I was, because I read the book. It's. It's called the Culture Map. By, um. Yeah, by.

Adin Henrich: By.

Krista Braz: I forgot the name right now. Uh, Erin Mayer. Erin Mayer, who is the chro. So Chief HR Officer at Netflix. Um, she wrote a great book about, uh, all those cultural differences, nuances, and it helped me a lot to deal with my China team.

Adin Henrich: That's good, that's good. And thanks for sharing. We'll definitely also link that one. Um, so there is of course new new tech on the block, AI. Ah, so with AI reshaping development, how do you think engineering culture, uh, should evolve? And are they ways AI can strengthen or potentially weaken team collaboration and innovation? Um, and of course, if you use it already, you know, please let me know what kind of example you can share with us.

Krista Braz: Sure. Um, well, you know, AI is a powerful productivity multiplier, but it's just a tool and the culture must adapt intentionally, um, where it helps so reduce mechanical work like Um, I don't know, tests, docs, ah, scaffolding code free engineers from higher leverage tasks like system design and domain thinking. Uh, it helps to improve onboarding with AI generated personalized learning paths and code based walkthroughs. Um, it can surface knowledge by summarizing prs incidents and discussions. So it makes the async work more efficient. However, it can also hurt. So over reliance on generated code without understanding leads to technical debt and loss of craft. In fact, and I will tell you more about it in a minute, when I produced um, Copilot AI in my last organization, um, the productivity drops, uh, dropped for about um, two iterations, which is four weeks, uh, by 25% because engineers were uh, spending too much time on um, not rewriting but also reviewing the code. Uh, so like I say, um, if used to optimize for a velocity only, it can erode code quality and collective ownership. Speaking about culture, what I recommend is teach everyone to prompt and verify. So it requires explainability and tests for generated code. Next, keep code reviews and design reviews as cultural anchors. AI should assist, not replace human judgment. Um, third would be establish UAE usage, sorry, AI usage norms. Um, so what's okay to auto merge what needs senior review, how to credit AI assisted work and um, yeah, use AI to free time for mentorship, architecture conversations and cross training. That's where um, cultural innovation thrive.

Adin Henrich: Great examples there. Thank you for sharing, Chris. Um, you know, if you had to summarize your biggest lessons from building engineering culture across different geographical parts of the world, uh, and growth stages, what would that be? Would you say? It's um, a big. It's a, It's a, It's a big question. I know. Yeah.

Krista Braz: Ah, um, no, culture is a product you ship continuously so to say. So it requires the same product mindset. Define the experience, measure, measure it, iterate and decide hard trade offs. Uh, be intentional early. The defaults you set when you are small compound as um, you scale. Um, so if I were to just think on a high level, I would say alignment and shared purpose, um, adaptability to cultural nuances and um, probably fostering innovation with the right environment. Uh, so things like touch of trust, curiosity, ownership drives innovation. As someone passionate about embedding emerging technologies like AI, I emphasize collaboration over micromanagement and prioritized mentoring engineers to confidentially take risks. So yeah, um, I think that's it.

Adin Henrich: All right, well that's a good one to wrap it up I think Chris. Um, so I just want to thank you and of course from Sphere as well uh, for sharing your experience and perspectives, especially scaling in different cultures and scaling from 0 to 200, so to say. Um, so thank you very much for taking the time out of your day, Chris, and sharing your experiences. I think it's definitely very valuable for our audience. Um, yeah. And I hope I see you again in another episode, Chris.

Krista Braz: Likewise. And, um, thank you for having me.

Adin Henrich: Sure, sure. Have a good one, Chris.

Krista Braz: You too.

Adin Henrich: Thank you for sharing your experience and perspective from the first hundred days to scaling teams across the world for our listeners. If you're building or leading tech team, there is a lot to take away here, from the importance of setting cultural foundation early to the, uh, nuance of leading across borders. Thanks for tuning in to spherecast. Don't forget to follow us for more stories on technology, leadership and innovation.